India's young will help it topple China as economic giant

Mumbai: India will soon race ahead Asian economic superpowers -- China and Japan -- in achieving fast paced economic growth, riding high on its vast number of young workforce, according to a report on Bloomberg. On the contrary, in China, the number of such young working group is on the downward path, which means the trend may slow down its economy in longer term.

A report commissioned by Deloitte LLP predicts by 2027 there will be more senior citizens -- those of and above 65 years age -- in China or for that matter in Asia. At present, there are 365 million people of the said age group in Asia, a number that is expected to go up to 500 million. By 2030, the age group of Asia will account for 60 per cent of total global workforce.

China and Japan had driven Asia's robust economic growth, a trend which will be taken forward by India in the third wave of economic growth, the report claims. At present, India has a huge workforce with estimates putting the figure to 885 million people. In the next 20 years, India's number of working populace will go up to 1.08 billion.

"India will account for more than half of the increase in Asia’s workforce in the coming decade, but this isn’t just a story of more workers: these new workers will be much better trained and educated than the existing Indian workforce," said Anis Chakravarty, economist at Deloitte India.

The report adds two other strong Asian economies -- Indonesia and Philippines -- will also see a strong economic growth in years to come as they too have a sizable number of young workforce.

However, the report adds, the rise in number of young workforce will not do any good and may ignite social unrest if proper policy measures are not put in place on right time. "If the right frameworks are not in place to sustain and promote growth, the burgeoning population could be faced with unemployment and become ripe for social unrest.